EDL protest in Reading

Around 200 members of the English Defence League came from across the country to demonstrate in Reading today (Saturday)

Members of the controversial group, which claims to oppose Muslim extremism, chanted and waved flags as they marched from the Three Guineas by Reading Station to Market Place, flanked by a heavy police presence. They were greeted outside the Town Hall by around 50 demonstrators, who said the EDL were divisive, dangerous and not welcome in a multi-cultural, tolerant and united Reading. Edward Willis, 25, from Oxford Road, added: "We don't tolerate or want them in our town, they are Nazis and fascists."

Some EDL members said they were protesting against the building of the Oxford Road mosque and proposed east Reading mosque but others pointed to wider reasons, such as the building of mosques elsewhere in Britain, and called for more to be done to tackle Muslim extremism.

Among the EDL supporters was founder Tommy Robinson, from Luton, and a 38-year-old builder, from Oxford Road, who did not want to give his name but said he helped organise the protest. He described the Oxford Road mosque as an "absolute eyesore" and added: "We don't want another one being built in east Reading."

Reading police commander, Supt Stuart Greenfield, confirmed no arrests were made and said he was pleased with how the police operation had gone, with more than 80 officers on duty. He said most EDL supporters had dispersed by around 3pm but stressed officers would remain in the town centre throughout the afternoon.

Reading Borough Council has released a statement condemning the "racist demonstration". Council leader, Andrew Cumpsty, said: "We in Reading have excellent relations between our varied and vibrant communities.

"Hatred and division have no place in civilised political debate and I condemn the activities of this small minority. In Reading we celebrate all the varied parts of our town, as all together we are stronger and richer because of our diversity."

Reading Chronicle

Man 'on cusp' of bombing campaign

A racist arrested by chance at a railway station was "on the cusp" of waging a terror campaign using tennis balls and weedkiller, a jury has heard.

Neil Lewington, 43, had a bomb factory at his parents' home in Reading, Berks, and wanted to target those he thought "non-British", prosecutors alleged.

The Old Bailey heard he was carrying bomb parts when arrested at Lowestoft, Suffolk, for abusing a train conductor.

He denies eight charges related to terrorism or explosives.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said Mr Lewington was found to be carrying the component parts of two "viable, improvised incendiary devices".

His holdall had been searched after his arrest, when he was also held for drinking and smoking on the train and urinating in public, the court heard.

This man who had strong if not fanatical right-wing leanings and opinions was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting

Later searches of Mr Lewington's home revealed a notebook entitled "Waffen SS UK members' handbook" which contained drawings of electronics and chemical mixtures, jurors were told.

"In addition to all of that, the police discovered evidence that the defendant sympathised with and quite clearly adhered to white supremacist and racist views," said Mr Altman.

Mr Lewington had an "unhealthy interest" in the London nail bomber David Copeland, America's Unabomber and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the court heard.

Mr Altman said: "The effect of these finds is to prove that this man, who had strong if not fanatical right-wing leanings and opinions, was on the cusp of embarking on a campaign of terrorism against those he considered non-British."

He said Mr Lewington had two video compilations of news and documentary footage about bombers and bombings both in Britain and the US.

'No qualifications'

This interest had gone "far beyond the mere intellectual or academic levels", Mr Altman said.

"In the privacy of his own bedroom and far from the gaze of his parents with whom he lived, this defendant had amassed the component parts of and had begun the manufacture of improvised explosive or incendiary devices," he said.

Mr Altman said Mr Lewington left school at 16 without qualifications but had worked in a number of electronics jobs.

He had been unemployed for 10 years after being sacked from his last job for being drunk and, though he lived with his parents, had not spoken to his father for 10 years.

His mother said he had placed Plasticine in the keyhole of his bedroom door so no-one could see inside, the court heard.

It was alleged that Mr Lewington, described as "a loner", had met a number of girlfriends through mobile phone chatlines.

One said she was put off when he made racist remarks, while another - an army cadet sergeant - said he asked if she had dealings with the Nazi group Combat 18, the court heard.

Mr Lewington had taken some weedkiller from her and later told her he had bought a child's chemistry set to use for making explosives, Mr Altman said.

Mr Lewington is accused of preparing for terrorism by having the bomb parts in a public place.

He also faces two charges of having articles for terrorism - including the weedkiller, firelighters and three tennis balls - two of having documents for terrorism and another of collecting information for terrorism.

Two further counts allege he possessed an explosive device "with intent to endanger life" and that he had explosives, namely weedkiller.

The trial continues.

BBC News

My Life Of Fear On Whitley Streets

One of London’s top Muslim police officers has told of his fear when racist thugs threw a pig’s head in his garden while he was stationed in Whitley – what he calls “the BNP heartland of Reading”.

Ali Dizaei, chief superintendent in Hounslow for the Metropolitan Police, spent five years walking the beat in South Reading and Coley Park in the late 1980s. Chief Supt Dizaei later went on to the Met and was famously acquitted of two corruption charges at the Old Bailey, after a £7 million investigation that also saw him accused of drug taking, frequenting prostitutes, spying and using steroids.

The Iranian-born officer has now written a book, Not One Of Us, which attacks his accusers and contains allegations of racism inside and outside of the force during his time in Reading.

In the biography, Ch Supt Dizaei complains that of 15 probationary officers in the Thames Valley in 1986, he was the only one stationed in Whitley – which he describes as the BNP heartland of Reading.
He writes: “I was an Iranian immigrant and a copper – and in Whitley that was like being black twice over.”

His nightmare began when he was stationed in a police house in Hartland Road, which was overrun with rats and had been damaged by squatters.

When he bought homing pigeons, they were stolen, but flew back.

“I was upset, but not nearly as upset as when I came home one night and found, ‘Pakis out of Britain’, painted on my front door,” he adds.

The Muslim officer says that on another occasion a pig’s head was thrown into his garden. Chief Supt Dizaei says he later struck up a friendship with another officer living in Whitley, Denzil Macintosh, who also suffered racism when thugs defecated in a jam jar and threw it through his bedroom window while he slept.

“We were the only two probationers in Reading who weren’t white, and for some reason, we had been put in the area where we were absolutely guaranteed to be resented, threatened and abused,” he continued. “I resented the fact that Denzil and I were a two-man ghetto, suffering daily racist abuse, living in fear.”

The book also contains numerous examples of racism within the force, including one PC telling Ch Supt Dizaei that he had seen his wife walking up the road with a monkey under her arm – the monkey being his new baby.

Another section describes a PC who urinated on the road while listening to an Asian taxi driver’s description of being attacked by a passenger.

While working at Coley Park with a black officer, he said they were referred to as the “ethnic response unit”, which led to a brawl between him and another PC. Ch Supt Dizaei later set up a racial harassment forum, to help victims in the town.

He writes: “At the end of 1988 Shahin came to me: her family was being abused by a local racist gang, but it hadn’t been possible to gather enough evidence to make an arrest. She needed police protection. I pushed, and managed to get the installation of covert CCTV cameras approved outside her house. On Christmas Day 1988, those cameras spotted the gang putting a petrol bomb through her door.”

GetReading.co.uk